techworld

TechWorld is Vincent Quigg's personal electronics repair and customization service, specializing in Apple products. “I love technology,” says Vinny. “I’m extremely passionate about it. I also love Apple. I had always seen customers at Best Buy, where I’ve worked over the last two years, with broken devices. It’s a plain and simple fact that stuff happens, and your device is with you almost 100% of your day. There is a definite industry for it.”

Even though Vinny has been selling iPhones and customizing phone software since his early teens, he didn’t settle on TechWorld right away. His initial idea was a meal donation plan for restaurant chains, based on Tom’s One for One Movement, which donates a pair of Tom’s shoes to a child in need every time a pair is sold. Fearing that his idea wasn’t good enough, Vinny dropped out of the NFTE course for two weeks. He explains, “Once I left, I thought, ‘What am I doing? This class is something I’m really involved in.’ I came back, chose TechWorld, and wrote my business plan in three days.”

He did retain one element of his original idea: making a contribution to those in need. “I plan on being an official drop-off location for cell phones for soldiers. We will donate the community’s used cell phones to our soldiers at war,” says Vinny. “I also plan to donate a percentage of sales to One Laptop Per Child. They supply waterproof, low-powered laptops to students in third world countries.”

Vinny takes naturally to the role of entrepreneur, partly because of his youthful business experience, but also because he has been thrust into a leadership role at home. “My father divorced my mom and has a new family now,” he says. “I was the father figure, being a role model for my younger sister and providing stability to my mom, emotionally and financially. But it’s helped me grow up fast.” It has also spurred Vinny to succeed. “My family is full of entrepreneurs. It has been especially hard because my dad is a very successful one. I am very proud to say that I have gotten to where I am without him.”

Vinny had originally planned to move to Arizona for college, but NFTE has kept him in California, where he attends Rio Hondo College in Whittier. He considers confidence and drive to be his strongest assets, and he remains determined to be his own boss. “You look at the entrepreneur to the left or right, and I can guarantee that I want it ten times more than that person. I refuse to fail, and I refuse to be controlled by anyone else but myself.”